first place

An Indonesian mother, Nanik, works as a maid in Miami while raising her 11-year-old daughter to be a brilliant chess champion.

Nanik catalogues hundreds of her daughter’s trophies in their miniature apartment eternally lit by Christmas lights. Parakeets score Nanik’s beaming commentary and hundred-watt smile, breaking only when her thoughts drift from her champion to the other life she left behind, and the other daughter.